Fall Musical
by redpenguin24601
Summary: The Lunar Chronicles in High School AU! Cinder is doing Theatre Tech in the school play. She meets new friends in school and through the Theatre Department! On hold for a little while.
1. Chapter 1: Monday

**Before School**

On the way to school, Iko and Peony were bubbling, excited to see all their friends and find out who were in their classes. Cinder stayed quiet, navigating early morning rush hour traffic. Her car was a small '92 Subaru she had spent all her money on sophomore year. When she had gotten the car, it had been an unsightly pale orange, and had run only when it felt like it, and even then moaning obnoxiously the whole way. However, since then, Cinder had done some work on the car, and she spray-painted it every few months. The car's name was Caraline, and right now she was a subtle but endearing dolphin blue, and she ran smoothly 90% of the time. When Cinder pulled into the school, the girls went inside and stopped by the counselors office for their schedules.

"I'm going to find my new locker," Cinder told Peony and Iko as Peony shut her own locker.

"I'll come with you," Peony said, not wanting to be alone. They trudged up the stairs while Peony compared her schedule with Iko's. At Cinder's locker, they stopped so she could put her books in.

"There he is, Peony," Iko whispered.

"Who?" Peony glanced around.

Cinder followed Iko's gaze to Kai, who Peony had been crushing on since a year ago when she had first come to East High School. Kai was comparing schedules with his friends.

"Oh," Peony smiled, turning away shyly. Cinder rolled her eyes, checking her schedule to see which books she needed.

Kai came over and started turning the combination on the locker next to Cinder's.

He glanced at her. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," she responded.

"Are you a freshman?" Kai opened his locker and started putting his books in.

"No, I'm a junior."

"I've never seen you before."

Cinder shrugged. "I stay under the radar."

He smiled. "What's your name?"

Cinder shut her locker.

"Cinder."

"I'm Kai."

She nodded. "Maybe I'll see you around, Kai." Cinder turned and headed towards her first period, English. Peony and Iko followed close behind her.

"His locker is right next to yours!" Peony whispered urgently. "Did you see that? He talked to you!" She skipped a little to catch up with Cinder. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I saw that. What's your first period?"

"Peony and I have biology together!" Iko provided.

"The biology hall is around the corner," Cinder told them. "I'll see you guys at lunch, then."

"Under the staircase," Peony confirmed, and they went their separate ways.

 **Lunch**

The hours dragged on through AP US History, Pre Calc, study hall, and AP physics, until, finally, lunch. Cinder was the first one to get to their lunch spot under the stairs. She dumped her backpack and went to get lunch. When she came back with a greasy pizza and a chocolate milk, her cousin Winter was unwrapping a cold cut sandwich. Cinder sat down in her spot and turned her pizza upside down to drain the grease onto the cardboard tray.

"Hey, Winter."

"Hello, Cinder. How has your first day been?"

"Okay. Already have several pages of

Pre-Calc homework."

"Typical," Winter empathized. Peony and Iko came back from the lunch line. They sat down and turned over their pizzas, Peony announcing that they already hated Chemistry.

The rest of lunch went by uneventfully.

 **6th Period**

Scarlet took a deep breath as she walked through the band hall, soaking in the familiarity. The band director, Mr. Finch, greeted her at the door with a high five and a "welcome back!" way too enthusiastic for a Monday. Scarlet grabbed her trumpet from her locker and took a seat in the fourth row, next to a kid named Carswell, also a senior, who had been in her section for several years. Carswell, who had been oiling his valves, looked up when she sat down.

"Hey, Scarlet, how was your summer?"

"Good, how was yours?" Scarlet asked without thinking, but she sighed inwardly when Carswell began telling her about all the places he travelled and mountains he climbed. Half-listening, Scarlet took out her trumpet and started oiling the valves. Looking around, she saw many familiar faces, and also a few new ones. In the second row, Emilie was putting her flute together, chatting with the girl next to her. Behind Emilie, Kai was cleaning his saxophone. Soon enough, the bell rang, finally shutting Carswell up, and Mr. Finch came in and he band started warming up.

 **7th Period**

Kai breathed a sigh of relief as he finally came to his last class of the day, French. He walked slowly to give himself time to decide where to sit. Since he was there early, there were only a few people there. In the middle of the classroom, Kai was surprised, and a little pleased, to see the girl whose locker was next to his this year. She had already gotten a textbook and was writing her name in the front cover. As he walked over, he racked his brain for her name. It was something to do with fire... Cinder!

"Hey Cinder."

She looked up, closing her book. "Kai!"

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Sure."

He put his bag down and grabbed a French textbook. Cinder wasn't much of a talker, but as the classroom filled up, Kai learned that she hated French, had three sisters at the school, and she took engineering (this, Kai noted, might be useful because he himself was in engineering and struggled with it frequently). Though Cinder rarely smiled and never laughed, he found himself warming to her. At the end of class, they walked together to their lockers, and Cinder told him about her sisters.

"Pearl's a senior. Iko does Theatre, and I do Theatre Tech club. Iko and Peony are sophomores, and Iko and I are adopted. I drive Peony and Iko to school."

"I wish I had siblings," Kai mused.

"No, you don't," Cinder laughed, and his heart jumped. He had made her laugh.

Kai drove home with his heart in his head and a good feeling about senior year.

 **After School**

Cinder said goodbye to Kai and headed towards the auditorium. Mondays were the day the drama department's Theatre Tech Club met. When she got there, she sat down at the sound booth at the back of the auditorium and made sure all the knobs were in place, before going in to the booth. Jacin and Aimery were already there, turning on the lights equipment. Jacin and Aimery were both seniors, and it was really just the three of them in Theatre Tech Club. Jacin and Aimery did lights, and Cinder did sound. Cinder also acted as something of a peacekeeper between Jacin and Aimery, who hated each other with a passion. Aimery was on-again, off-again dating Levana. Levana frequented in terrorizing Winter, who was good friends with Jacin, which led to a riff between the two boys.

Cinder dumped her backpack on the table in a corner of the booth and sat next to it. On stage, the theatre kids were arriving to talk about their fall play. Cinder's cousin Winter was talking enthusiastically to Cress, a talented sophomore dedicated to the theatre program. In one corner, Levana and her best friend Sybil were huddled, whispering, throwing furtive glances towards Winter and Cress.

A tentative knock on the door drew the Tech Theatre Club's attention. The door slowly opened and a boy stepped in.

"Kinney!" Jacin greeted him with surprise. "Guys, this is Kinney, I invited him because we're always saying we need more people in Theatre Tech Club, right?"

"Yeah!" Cinder introduced herself, but she personally hoped he wouldn't be on sound board with her, because she could handle it on her own and didn't want anyone interfering. She was glad when Jacin started to introduce him to the lights equipment, but noticed Aimery stayed in the corner, hostile and resentful.

Cinder was glad when the door opened again and Iko burst in, gushing about how excited she was for the fall play. Cinder nodded and agreed. When the drama department director, Ms. Swartz, came onstage to talk about the fall play, Cinder, Jacin, Aimery and Kinney joined the theatre kids onstage.

Thank you guys for reading! Please tell me what you think - too much detail? Not enough detail?


	2. Chapter 2: Tuesday

**Guest and WavingThroughAWindow, thank you so much for reviews! It means so much to me!333**

 **Before School**

On the second day of school, Cinder drove her sisters to school again. They parted ways at the front of the school, and Cinder went up to her locker. Kai was already there, standing at his open locker scrolling through his phone.

"Hey," she nodded, digging in her pocket for her locker combo. "What's good?"

"Oh, not much." He closed his locker and leaned against it, facing her.

"School."

Cinder opened her locker. "You don't happen to have tape, do you?"

She asked him, more for something to say than out of hope that he would actually have it, though she did need it.

"Actually, I do." He turned back to his locker and started spinning the combo. "How are the sisters?"

"Sisters are fine. Pearl's a pain, as always. Peony's a gem, Iko's amazing."

Kai handed her a roll. "Do you watch Once Upon A Time?"

"No, what's it about?"

"You should watch it. It's good."

"How many seasons?" she asked, taping the schedule inside her locker.

"Five so far. Sixth is on air now."

Cinder shut her locker and turned to him. "Do they have it at the library?"

"No, but I can lend it to you. You don't have Netflix?"

She shook her head.

 **5th Period**

"Welcome back, class." Mr. Harlan swept into the room just after the bell rang, lugging a heavy box. "Today we are doing our first of many partner assignments."

Cress shrank in her seat, feeling a wave of despair. She glanced around the class. She had been homeschooled up until now, and she hated starting conversations.

Mr. Harlan dropped the box on the table with a thud. Cress turned back to the front. The only thing worse than being partnered with a stranger would be being partnered with a stranger, and having no clue what the assignment was.

"Students, this is an exercise in _getting to know your classmates better_ more than anything else." Cress groaned inside. "I know this is Engineering III and you've spent two years together, but my challenge to you is to pair with someone you've never spoken to before today."

A few seats in front of her, a gorgeous girl with auburn hair and a sparkly mini-dress turned around and gave her best friend a secretive smile. Cress felt her panic go up a couple notches. Everybody at this school already knew each other. Everybody in this class had already spent two engineering years together. Putting aside her not-casting-judgements-until-she-knew-someone rule, she marked sparkly mini-dress as mega-popular, avoid-interaction-at-all-costs.

Cress felt a tap on her sholder. She tensed but turned around. A girl with dark skin and brown hair sat behind her. She wore a black t-shirt and twirled her pen in one hand. _Partners?_ She mouthed, raising her eyebrows. Cress nodded and turned back to the front, relieved. That wasn't so bad. She didn't even have to approach anyone.

The assignment was a simple fill in the blanks thing, very second-day-of-school. Cinder and Cress went outside to work in the hallway.

"I'm Cinder."

"Cress."

"Cress. Are you new?"

"Yeah."

"Where did you go to school before?"

"Homeschooled." Cress cursed herself internally. Was she incapable of anything more than one-word answers?

"You're a junior?"

"Yes." Apparently so.

Cinder went quiet then. Cress started on her worksheet. The silence filled the air. Cress felt the need to say something pulling at her, but she had nothing to say. She blurted out the first thing that came to her mind, what she had been wondering since Cinder mouthed _partners?_

"Do you have friends?" _Wow, Cress, real smooth._

Cinder looked up. "So you are capable of sentences. Do I have friends... a couple. Do you?"

Cress shook her head. "I don't talk to people."

Cinder laughed softly and went back to her worksheet. "Yeah."

As Cress filled out the next few blanks, she racked her brain for something to say. She supposed she had already come off as strange homeschooled girl.

Cinder beat her to it. "So, this is kind of weird, but you seem painfully shy and I don't think you'll mind. Do you want to be my engineering buddy?"

"What?"

"It's kind of an agreement - it just means we're partners on all future projects."

"Oh."

"If you don't want to-"

"No, I do."

Cinder smiled, clearly relieved. Maybe Cinder didn't have friends in this class, either.

"Who do you sit with at lunch?" Cinder asked.

The truth was that Cress didn't sit with anybody at lunch. She had spent her first two lunch hours outside in the humid summer air, reading under a tree, and though she did enjoy it, and doubted she would have the courage to sit with Cinder and her friends, it would be nice to have someone to sit with, just in case.

"Nobody... who do you sit with?"

"My sisters and cousin."

"Your cousin goes to this school?"

"Yeah, basically my whole family...

We sit under the stairs, you're welcome to join us."

Cress nodded. "I would like that."

Cinder looked at her watch and filled in the last couple spaces.

"Cinder?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

 **6th Period**

Scarlet felt a tap on her shoulder. Not in the mood for interacting with anyone, she ignored it, but she felt another tap. Finally, she turned around. A large boy who she didn't recognize was sitting behind her. The first thing she noticed was his size, which was fitting as he played the tuba. The second was his eyes.

"Are you Scarlet Benoit?"

She frowned. "Who are you?"

He didn't answer her question. "I've seen you before."

She raised her eyebrows.

"I've seen you at the burger place in the town square."

Of course. Everybody had seen her there - it was her grandma's restaurant, and the two of them lived above it. She turned back to the front of the room just in time to start playing the next exercise. At the end of class, she put her trumpet away and found Kai, who she had French with next period.

"So, Scarlet." She cringed inwardly and turned to face the same Tuba kid who had talked to her earlier. "What do you do for fun?"

"Stuff."

"Oh, really?" He leaned against the lockers. "That's very specific, gives me a real insight into who you are."

"Is that what you want?" She countered, feeling defensive. "Insight into who I am?"

He shrugged. "I'm just making small talk."

"Make small talk somewhere else."

"Fine."

He stalked away and she and Kai headed to French.

"So... Wolf?" Kai pulled her out of her thoughts.

"What?"

"Why is Wolf talking to you?"

"Wolf?"

"Yeah. That's the tuba guy who was talking to you."

"Oh - I don't know, he just started talking to me. What do you know about him?"

"Nothing..." She turned towards him, sensing he was hiding something. "Just that he's been in trouble before."

"Oh, really?" They reached French and sat down, Scarlet behind Kai. "Care to elaborate?"

"I don't know much."

"Drugs?"

"Not drugs."

Cinder came in, sat down, and turned to Kai. "Fairy tale characters?"

He smiled. "You looked up Once Upon A Time?"

She nodded.

"It's good. You'd like it."

"Kai, what did he do?" Scarlet pressed.

"Who?" Cinder turned to Scarlet.

"Wolf. Have you heard of him?" The bell cut over their conversation as Emilie slid into the seat next to Scarlet and got out her books and pencils.

"Oh, Wolf. Yeah, I've heard of him," Cinder shrugged.

"And? What do you know about him?"

"Bonjour, bonne apres-midi, ca-va, eleves!" Madame Julien said.

Cinder turned back to the front as the class chimed, "Bonjour, Madame Julien!"

What do you think? Any tips? Less dialogue? More dialogue? Thanks for reading! I personally think the Cress bit was the best. I think it turned out good because I relate to Cress so much - it came easier to me than the rest!?


	3. Chapter 3: Wednesday

_\- thank you!:D here you are. also have you all listened to taylor swifts new song?_

 **Before** **School**

Wednesday morning, Iko left to go to her own locker when the girls walked into school. Peony climbed up the stairs with Cinder. Peony leaned against Kai's locker and talked. Suddenly, Iko came bouncing up.

"Cinder, you didn't tell us that Kai sits next to you in French!"

Cinder ignored Iko's cheeriness. "French is a foul class."

"Cinder! You're stalling," Peony accused. "This is important. Why didn't you tell us?"

"Tell us the whole story," Iko insisted.

"He just walked in and sat next to me."

"Oh, my gosh, Cinder. I can't believe you didn't tell us," Iko said.

"It's no big deal."

"No big deal? Cinder, he chose to sit next to you out of all the other people in that classroom. What do you think that means?"

"It doesn't mean anything."

"Cinder, it-"

Cinder slammed her locker shut. "This conversation is over." She turned, and walked straight into Kai.

Of course.

Peony and Iko left for Biology.

"Hey, Cinder, I have something for you." Kai opened his locker and put his bag in. Cinder leaned against her own locker. Kai pulled a DVD out of his bag. "Here. Will you watch it?"

"Sure, I'll watch it." She put it in her backpack.

"Will you watch it fast?"

"Whatever you want."

 **5th Period Beginning**

Cinder slid into her seat behind Cress in Engineering and tapped Cress on the sholder. Cress turned around shyly.

"Missed you at lunch today."

"You did?"

"Of course!"

"Oh... I kind of chickened out."

Cinder smiled. "It's okay."

"Okay, class," Mr. Harlan pulled their attention back to the front. "Today we are taking our first pop quiz, just a casual thing to see what you remember from last year." He started to hand out the little slips of paper. "We'll have pop quizzes once or twice a week to make sure you're keeping up, but other than that a lot of the work we do here will be practical."

Cinder filled out her pop quiz quickly and eagerly, having done work on engineering and mechanics over the summer. She turned in her paper. After Cress turned in her paper, she dropped a piece of paper on Cinder's desk. Cinder opened it.

 _Why are you being so nice to me?_

Cinder scrawled the only response she could think of on the back and, with a glance to make sure Mr. Harlan wasn't looking, put it on Cress's desk, nudging her elbow. She watched as Cress opened it up and read it.

 _Because you're letting me_.

 **5th Period End**

Wolf caught up with Scarlet and Kai at the end of band.

"Hey, Scarlet, sorry if I came off a little strange yesterday. I was having a bad day."

"Oh..." Scarlet bit back a sarcastic response when she saw Kai's face, purposefully blank. "That's okay. Sorry I was so harsh."

"It's alright. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yeah." He turned left and Scarlet and Kai turned right. When they got to French, Cinder was already there. "So, when are you going to tell me what's so taboo about him?" Scarlet asked.

Kai turned around. "It's not taboo. He's just bad news."

Cinder turned around, too. "Wolf again?" Kai nodded.

"You're stalling."

"He used to go to private school, but he was kicked out."

"He was arrested for breaking and entering," Cinder said at the same time.

"Ooh, maybe both," Scarlet guessed.

"Well, either way-" Kai started.

"Bonjour, bonjour, bonjour!" Kai and Cinder turned back to the front.

 **After School**

 _New message from Peony:DD_

 _Iko and I are going to Starbucks. Cu at home_

Cinder plugged her phone into the aux cord. Being in the car alone meant she got to blast whatever music she wanted. When she got home, Cinder finished her homework quickly so she could watch Once Upon A Time. Peony and Iko didn't talk to Cinder or come in her room when they got home. Cinder wondered if they were mad at her, but didn't dwell on it. She would talk to them in the morning.

Once Upon A Time was good, just as Kai promised, and she found herself getting lost in the story. Just as Episode 7 "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter" when she heard a crash from the kitchen. She paused the show and took her headphones out, ready to dive under the covers and pretend to be asleep if she thought anyone would come in. Her clock glared at her from the bookshelf. _12;14 AM._ She hadn't realized it was that late.

She heard Adri's door slam and Adri going into the kitchen. Cinder placed her computer on the floor and strained to hear what was being said. When she couldn't hear anything, she crept out of bed and put her ear to the door.

"Where have you been?"

"At the library, studying."

"Why did you leave your school books here, then?"

Cinder grinned against the door. For once, she wasn't the one getting in trouble.

"I..."

"Don't lie to me, young woman. Where were you?"

"...Amelia's house."

"You're grounded."

"But mom-"

"Give me your keys." Cinder heard the reluctant jingle of keys, and Pearl's and Adri's footsteps down the hall. She crept back into bed and fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Thursday

_Thank you AHBookworm for the review!! 3 lots of love. Guest - thank you!!!! I got you Thorne will be here soon:) Also I song that I'm really obsessed with lately is The History of Wring Guys from Kinky Boots, it's so good!_

 **4th Period**

Cinder and Jacin had developed a routine of sharing notes and watching the clock religiously throughout AP physics. When the bell finally rang, they were out of the room before anyone else. They raced down the stairs.

"I think I'll go out for lunch today," Jacin mused. "I don't feel like mystery meat. Want to come?"

"No, I have to do my French homework. Ask Winter, or maybe Peony."

"Not Peony."

"Whatever." Cinder left Jacin and her backpack under the stairs and went to get lunch. When she came back, Jacin and Winter were gone, and Cress was standing nearby awkwardly. Cinder waved her over. Cress gratefully put her backpack in Winter's empty spot and got out a smashed Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich.

"How are you, Cinder?"

"I'm good." Cinder got out her French homework.

"Excited for engineering?"

Cinder shrugged. "Relatively."

Peony and Iko came back from the lunch line. Cinder was glad they were so welcoming - it gave her time to do French as Iko pegged Cress with questions.

"What's your name?"

"Cress."

"What year are you?"

"Junior."

"What classes are you taking?"

"Choir, AP US History, Creative writing, Theatre-"

"Oh, you're in theatre? Cinder, Cress is in theatre!"

"Hm?"

"Are you doing the play?"

"Well, I was considering it..."

"Auditions are on Monday, you should do the play. Peony, shouldn't Cress do the play?"

"Yeah, totally." Peony poked at her mystery meat.

"Cress, that would be so much fun! I'm in the play, you know, and Winter's in the play, but none of my other friends are in the play, Cinder does Tech which isn't really the same, and Peony does soccer, so you should really do the play, that would be so much fun, auditions are on Monday, you should audition, I bet you'll get an awesome part because you're in choir too. Will you audition?"

"Okay, I guess."

 **After School**

In the car, Peony and Iko went on and on about who was the best character in Gilmore Girls, and Cinder and Iko, in the front, fought a passive-agressive battle over the radio.

"You have no taste in music," Iko whined.

When Cinder got home, she first looked through her engineering notes, then did math and French homework quickly so she could watch once upon a time.

 **After School**

Cress leaned against the window at the back of the bus and closed her eyes. She had Taylor Swift on shuffle on her phone.

Cress was the last stop in the bus. When the bus got to the corner by the convenience store, she got off, thanking Sam, the bus driver, and checked her watch. 4:23. She was early, so she went into the store for a candy bar.

She always got the same candy - a peach lollipop. She put it on the counter and fished in her pocket for change.

"Ten cents." She looked up.

Paul wasn't behind the counter.

A tall, blond boy watched her as she slowly took her change from her pocket.

Gosh, he was so cute.

No, no, no, she could not be falling for him because he would never like her back.

She put a dime on the counter, took her lollipop, and hurried out of the store. When she cleared the building, she started running, unwrapping the lollipop as she went. She rounded the corner and went up the street to her house. In front of the house she stopped, bit the lollipop off of the stick and threw away the trash. Then she let herself into the house. Quietly, she crept into the kitchen. A note on the fridge caught her eye.

 _Cress,_

 _Gone to Paris. Be back Tuesday._

 _-Sybil_

Cress did a little jump of excitement. Alone in the house for five whole days! She grabbed an orange and ran to her room.

On her bed, she lay out her homework and started to peel the orange. Sybil was known to be spontaneous and disappear for days at a time, leaving Cress by herself. Cress didn't mind. She could do anything she wanted when she was home alone. When Sybil was home, there were strict rules.

Her thoughts kept going back to the bit from the store. He had the nicest blue eyes, like the ocean. She had never seen him there before, the only person who worked there had been the owner of the shop, Paul. Cress sighed. Maybe a tiny crush wouldn't be that bad.

 _Thanks so much for reading and please leave a review!3_


	5. Chapter 5: Friday

_Here's another song for you: White Houses by Vanessa Carlton. "Summer's all in bloom / summer's ending soon"_

 _Thanks for reading!!3_

 **5th Period**

Cinder finished her pop quiz quickly on Friday, though it was a long one. When she turned it in, she found a piece of paper on her desk, folded into a tiny square. She opened it up.

 _Stay away from Kai._

 _YOU'LL BE SORRY!!_

Cinder glanced around. There was only one person she suspected of writing this note. Next to her, Levana was bent over her quiz. Cinder put the note back on her desk without bothering to respond.

"Cinder." She looked up. Mr. Harlan was looking right at her. "See me after class."

For the rest of class, Cinder just stared out the window. When the bell rang, she grabbed her bag and stood in front of Mr. Harlan's desk.

"Passing notes during a test counts as cheating and warrants immediate punishment," he said. Cinder's heart fell. He thought she had been giving Levana answers.

"Now, since you are a very smart girl and I've never had trouble with you before, I won't give you a zero on the quiz - though I should."

Cinder nodded, relieved but worried for whatever punishment he should decide to give her instead.

"Three days of lunch detention," he said, writing her a blue slip. "In the back right corner of the cafeteria. That will be all."

Cinder took the blue slip and left. Cress was waiting for her outside. "What did he want?" She asked.

"He saw me passing notes." Cinder showed her the blue slip.

"Three days of lunch detention," Cress read off the blue slip. "Who were you passing notes to?"

"I wasn't." Outside Cinder's English class, they stopped. "Levana passed me a note, and I passed it back without writing anything."

"Why would she pass you a note?" Cress asked, trying to figure out what was going on without being nosy.

"It said 'stay away from Kai, you'll be sorry,' which is absurd because there's nothing going on between Kai and me."

"Who's Kai?"

"He's in my English class."

"Oh. Well, we'll miss you at lunch." She checked her watch. "I'd better go. See you tomorrow!" Cress hurried off to her next class, and Cinder went into English and sat in her seat by the window, in front of the impertinent Carswell Thorne.

 **After School**

Scarlet dug her keys put if her pocket and unlocked her car. She put her backpack in the back seat. When she turned to get in the front, Wolf was standing nervously in front of her car.

"What are you doing?" She asked. It came out more sharply than she intended.

"I was wondering if you could give me a ride home," he said, taking a small step closer to the car. "My bike's in the shop."

"Where do you live?" She asked.

"Over there," he said, pointing in the general direction near where she lived.

She nodded. "Me too. Hop in."

They got in the car, and he told her more specifically where he lived.

They kept up just enough chatter for it not to be awkward, but what Kai and Cinder had said nagged at Scarlet.

"So, you're new?" She asked him, trying to be subtle.

"Yeah."

"Where did you go to school before?"

He was quiet so long she figured he wasn't going to answer.

"Turn right on 6th," he said quietly. She complied. "I lived in Germany until I was ten, then I moved to Canada."

She glanced at him. "What are you hiding?" She whispered, no longer trying to be subtle.

"You don't want to know," he whispered back. "Second house on the left, with the red door."

Scarlet stopped in front of said house. He thanked her and got out. She watched him let himself in, wondering what he was hiding, and drove home.

 **Evening**

Cinder was settled in her bed, finishing the weekend's homework. She had important plans to finish Season 1 of Once Upon A Time over the weekend.

"Cinder!" Adri called from the kitchen. Cinder sighed and got up.

Adri was drying her hands with a towel. "There you are, what took you so long?" She gestured towards the sink, full of dirty dishes. "Finish those."

Cinder bit back a groan and started washing the dishes. Adri left. A couple minutes later, Cinder heard the shower running through the house's old pipes. Pearl crept in and started drying the dishes next to the sink and putting them away. Cinder eyed her, distrustful. Eventually, Pearl spoke.

"Cinder, I need a favor." Of course. Cinder waited for Pearl to continue, scrubbing a frying pan. "So, I'm grounded."

Oh no.

"Mom took my car keys."

Anything but that.

"Can I borrow your car?"

Not Caraline.

"Um..." Cinder hesitated.

"Please?"

"Why?" Cinder whined, knowing the reason, but hoping to postpone the inevitable.

Pearl dropped the cloth and leaned close to Cinder.

"Because you know I can make your life a living hell."

Cinder hesitated but handed over the keys. She hated letting Pearl win, but there was nothing she could do.

When Cinder with five and Pearl was six, Cinder threw a snowball, aiming for Peony, and hit Pearl in the face. Pearl tattled, and Cinder stayed inside for the rest of the day in a time out, sitting in a chair facing the window and watching all the other kids play in the snow. A couple years later, Cinder borrowed a CD from Pearl, a CD they both wanted, but Pearl got because Pearl got everything she wanted. Pearl claimed Cinder had scratched the disc, and Cinder had to do chores for three weeks to earn the money to buy Pearl a new CD.

Point was, Cinder couldn't win.

She went to the front window to watch Pearl. Pearl sat in driveway, adjusting the mirrors. Cinder watched her put the car in drive and back out. She winced at Pearl's careless speed.

She saw it almost in slow motion. Pearl backed out not quite straight, eyes on the rearview mirror. Cinder watched in horror as Pearl turned the wheel and backed into the tree by the driveway. Cinder's hands flew to her mouth. She forced herself not to cry out.

Cinder hurried back to the sink to finish the dishes. The door unlocked and Pearl cane in. Cinder dropped the cup she was rinsing and marched over to her.

"You idiot," she whispered, foolishly letting her temper get to her. "You wrecked my car."

"Your car was hit," Pearl said casually, handing Cinder the keys. She headed towards her bedroom.

"Was hit?" Cinder followed Pearl into her bedroom. "You backed her into a tree!"

Pearl turned in Cinder. "It's a car, Cinder. Get over it."

Cinder left to go finish the dishes. She scrubbed each dish hard, her head throbbing with anger. The unfairness of it was what really got to her. Pearl was always the favourite, and Pearl always got her way. She would probably get out of being grounded soon enough, but she still had to go and wreck Cinder's car. She wouldn't even take responsibility for it. Whatever repair needed to be done, Cinder would have to do herself. Heaven forbid it needed a new part or professional repair, which Cinder would have to pay for herself. She'd probably have to get a job.

When she finished the dishes, Cinder went straight to bed, too tired to do any more homework.

 _Tips? Requests? Anything? Please review!:) Thank you so much for reading!_


	6. Chapter 6: Monday

_So, school is a thing, and I can no longer post every couple days._

 _Thank you so much they-need-a-revolutionary and guest 1 and guest 2! It's really nice to know you like my writing style! Thank you!_

* * *

 **Before School**

On Monday morning, Pearl, Peony, Cinder, and Iko all piled into Pearl's car. Pearl was allowed to drive only to school and back. Cinder's car, Caraline, was unfit to be driven and in need of professional repair.

Cinder went to her locker by herself, still brooding over Caraline. Peony and Iko had been spending less time with her since they found out she hadn't told them about being in the same class as Kai. She couldn't tell if they were avoiding her or she was just imagining it, but she sure wasn't going to be the one to ask them. Whether they were mad at her or not, they could talk to her.

Kai came up just as she thinking through her schedule to see if she needed anything else. "Hey," he said, opening his locker. She wordlessly handed him Season 1 of Once Upon a Time, which she had finished over the weekend, without looking at him.

"Are you okay?"

She hadn't meant to tell him anything, but she hadn't even told Peony and Iko that it was Pearl who smashed her car, and Kai's concern was all it took for her to open up. She slammed her locker and turned to him. "I'm so mad. Pearl wrecked my car."

"What? Why?"

"She couldn't drive her own car because she's grounded, so she took my car and backed it into a tree."

"On purpose?"

"No-" Cinder frowned. It hadn't occurred to her that Pearl might have crashed her car on purpose. Cinder couldn't remember having done anything to anger Pearl. She thought back to Friday, when she watched Pearl from the window. She had backed out fast, heading straight for the tree. "I don't know."

Kai closed his locker and they started

walking. "So what happened next?"

He asked.

"Well, I have to fix the car, or pay for it to be fixed. The whole back of her is smashed.

"That's not fair."

Cinder scoffed. "Welcome to my world."

They reached the Engineering classroom, where Kai had first period, and went their separate ways.

 **Lunch**

Cinder complained to Jacin about her broken car and the injustice of it while they walked down from AP Physics, even though she knew he wasn't listening.

"Cinder," he said as they got in the lunch line, "you know I don't care, right?"

"I know," she sighed. The best part about her and Jacin's friendship was the mutual understanding that neither one of them actually cared.

Cinder hadn't forgotten her dreaded lunch detention. When she got out of the lunch line, she dug out her blue slip and headed towards the back right corner of the cafeteria, just like the slip said. There was only one other person at the table, a boy with blond hair and pretty blue eyes, poking at his pizza. Cinder sat down and turned her pizza upside down.

Sensing the other kid watching her, she got out her Pre Calc homework, a four page packet, and started on it, just for something to do.

After four problems, she looked up to glare at the blond kid, who had been frequently glancing at her through pokes at his pizza.

"What?" She snapped. He smiled annoyingly. Cinder glared.

"I'm Carswell. Carswell Thorne."

"Cinder," she responded curtly.

He nodded towards her packet. "Pre-Calc?"

She nodded.

"Pre-Calc's a pain. I'm taking it too." Cinder, unimpressed and still in a bad mood, purses her lips and neglected to respond.

"Are you a senior?"

She nodded again, slowly.

He cocked his head. "You're cute."

Cinder rolled her eyes and went back to her math.

"Cinder?"

She let out a frustrated sigh and looked up.

"I figure since we'll both be here for the rest of the week, you might as well be nice to me."

She took a bite of her pizza and frowned.

"What makes you think I'll be here all week?"

He tapped her blue slip, a smile creeping to his lips. Cinder grabbed it and crumpled it in her pocket.

"So, cheating on a test?"

"I wasn't cheating."

He waited for her to elaborate. "She passed me a note and I passed it back."

He shook his head at her and clicked his tongue. Cinder glared at him, wishing she was sitting with Winter, Iko, Peony and Cress.

"No, I'm kidding," he said, finally picking up his pizza. "I'm just glad to have a detention buddy."

"I'm not your 'detention buddy,'" Cinder muttered. What an idiot. It was going to be a long week.

 **After School**

Cress got to the auditorium, where Iko told her auditions would be, right after the bell rang for the end of school. She peeked inside, but nobody was in there, so she hung around the door until Cinder and Kai came and said hello.

"So, auditions are today, right?" Cress asked.

"Oh, no, auditions are on Wednesday. Did Iko tell you they're today? They're Wednesday. But you'll want to go today because that's when we find out what the play is."

"Are you going?" Cress asked Cinder.

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll go with you," Cress said, relieved.

"I'm coming, too," Kai said as they went in. "I'm playing sax in the orchestra."

They sat down in the second row and chatted idly about school and theatre while other kids filed in.

The auditorium went silent when Ms. Fateen, the director, came onto the stage, holding a binder in her arms. Ms. Fateen was an middle aged thin, Asian woman with a loud voice.

"Good afternoon, everybody!" She chirped. "If you're here, you're interested in being in the musical, or maybe in playing a musical instrument or doing lights or sound behind the scenes.

"Now, are you ready to find out what our fall musical is going to be?"

Everyone clapped and whooped, and Cress timidly clapped too.

"Our fall musical is..." Ms. Fateen turned her binder around to show everyone the poster for the fall musical. "Beauty and the Beast!"

There were lots of "ooh"s, and one girl behind Cress let out an ecstatic screech. "I love Beauty and the Beast!" She whispered loudly. Cress resisted the urge to turn around and see who it was.

"As many of you know, auditions will be on Wednesday," Ms. Fateen continued. "Make sure you sign up for an audition time on the sign-up sheet outside the black box, and if you have a conflict with the auditions, see me. Orchestra, go see Mr. Finch for your music, and Tech, go to the booth at the back of the auditorium. Thank you."

The auditorium filled with chatter as everyone got up and left. Kai went to the band room, and Cinder went to the booth. Cress followed the herd to the black box to sign up for her audition time.

After Play

Cinder pushed open the door to outside, but, hit by a gust of cold wind and rain she hadn't been expecting, she immediately turned around and walked back in. She stood by the door for a second, taking a second prepare herself for the cold rain.

She had seen Iko leave a couple minutes ago. She didn't know if Iko had a ride home or was walking too, but something kept Cinder from texting Iko to ask. Cinder had stayed holed up in her room all weekend, watching Once Upon A Time and avoiding human interaction, and she wasn't in the mood for facing Iko.

"Hey, Cinder." She turned to see Kai.

"Hey."

He walked past her and opened the door, then paused and turned. "Do you need a ride?"

"No, I'm okay."

She followed him out the door, and they both turned right. At Kai's car, a small blue sports car, he stopped. "Are you walking home?" He asked her.

Cinder nodded.

"Are you sure you don't want a ride?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied.

"Cinder, it's pouring. You'll catch a cold and it'll be my fault for letting you walk home in the rain."

She bit back another refusal. She couldn't deny to herself that she wanted to accept the ride. It was, after all, pouring.

"The longer you stand here stalling, the wetter we get," he smiled and Cinder finally resigned. They got in the car and Kai pulled out of the parking lot.

"Okay, where are we going?" He asked.

"Near the Chipotle on Washington Blvd."

"Chipotle? You would've been walking a while."

"Yeah," was all Cinder had to say to that.

"You can plug in your phone if you want," he offered, reaching for the aux cord.

"Oh, you wouldn't like my music." Mostly, Cinder just didn't like to share her music. It felt too personal.

"Try me," he challenged.

She took the aux cord. She plugged it into her phone, but couldn't decide what to play. She scrolled through the limited selection on her phone. She only had a couple bands.

"Music?" Kai promoted.

"Okay, this is one of my all time favorites," she said and hit play.

They were quiet through the song. When it ended and the next song in the album started, Kai asked her to play it again.

"I like it," he said in the middle of the second verse.

"Really?" Cinder looked at him.

"Yeah."

"Turn right on McKinley," she said as they passed Chipotle. He glanced at her.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He turned on his signal and turned right.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm an idiot."

"I'm not."

He glanced at her again.

"Next block, third house on the left."

He drove slowly through the residential streets.

"Kai?"

"Yeah?" They watched the houses go by on the left.

"Thank you."

"Oh, it's no problem."

"No, for everything."

"Oh..." At the third house, he pulled into the driveway and put the car in park, and finally looked at her. "You're welcome."

She held his gaze for a split second before opening the door and getting out with a "thanks for the ride." She hurried to the door through the rain and let herself in.

Iko's door was wide open. Glancing inside, Cinder saw Iko on the bed, on her computer. Iko glanced up and saw Cinder.

"Hey."

"You were home fast."

"I got a ride... is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Cinder said, hovering in the doorway. "Iko, are you and Peony mad at me?"

"Peony kind of is, but not really. She's more upset that you're avoiding her."

"I'm not avoiding her."

Iko raised her eyebrows. "Just, no more secrets, please?"

Now. Now would be the perfect time to tell Iko that Kai had driven her home, since Iko was interest in tiny little things like that. All she'd have to do was agree and say it. Yeah, of

course. By the way, guess what? Kai drove me home today... But why should she have to tell Iko and Peony everything? They would only freak out and scrutinize every little detail. It wasn't like a ride home was even a big deal, anyway. Cinder should be allowed to keep things to herself. She frowned, feeling defensive and a little bit threatened.

"Cinder?" Iko promoted, biting her lip.

"Why should I have to tell you everything, anyway?"

"Not everything. It's kind of important, though, right? And you know Peony has a crush on Kai."

Peony has a crush on Kai. Cinder was surprised at herself - she had almost forgotten. "Whatever, Iko," she snapped. "It's not actually that that important."

"Cinder!" Iko whined, surprised by her harsh tone, but Cinder was already out the door.

 _Thank you so much for reading and please tell me what you think! Tips? Advice? Criticism? Here's a pro life tip for all of you - find good friends, no matter where you are or how long you'll be there. And don't hang around people who make you feel bad or left out -_

 _Find better friends and you'll have a better time!_


	7. Chapter 7: Tuesday

_A song I've been listening to a lot recently is The World Was Wide Enough from Hamilton_.

 **Lunch**

It was only the second day of lunch detention with Carswell Thorne, and Cinder couldn't wait for the end of he week. She got there first this time, with today's school lunch, a cheeseburger.

She had already worked ahead in Pre-Calc, and there wasn't much else she could do without her computer, so when Thorne came she had no good excuse to ignore him.

Cinder saw Peony and Iko going to her her lunch. Had she told them about her lunch detention or did they think she was still avoiding them? Cress probably told them.

"Cindy." Thorne slid into the seat next to her and she groaned.

"Do not call me that," she said in disgust. What awful nickname.

Thorne took a bite of his cheeseburger. "Who do you usually sit with?"

"My cousin and sisters. And Cress."

"Cress... Cress who?"

"Cress Darnel."

"I don't think I know her."

Cinder tore open a packet of ketchup and squirted it on her cheeseburger.

"I usually sit with my friends. They sit over there." He pointed. "They're kind of boring, though." He took a bite of cheeseburger and chewed slowly. "I'm doing the fall musical."

"You are?" Cinder said in dismay.

"Yeah, in the orchestra. I play trumpet."

"I'm doing the play." She took a bite of her burger.

"In the orchestra?" He asked, glad he'd found a topic that got her talking.

"No, tech. I know people who are doing orchestra, though, and who are acting in it."

"Who?"

"Kai in orchestra, and Iko and a Winter in theatre." She took another bite of her burger.

"I know Kai, he plays sax."

Cinder nodded, mouth full.

When the bell rang, Cress gathered her trash to throw away and swung her backpack over one shoulder. She stood under the stairs, waiting for Cinder so they could walk to engineering together.

When Cress saw Cinder, she smiled, but her smile froze and her heart jumped to her throat when she saw Carswell Thorne on Cinder's heels. Thorne cut in front of Cinder as they approached and charmed Cress with a killer smile.

"Carswell Thorne, at your service." Cress bit her lip, happy and panicked.

"Don't corrupt her," Cinder ushered Cress up the stairs, but Thorne followed close behind.

"What's your name?

"Cress," she managed.

"Oh, you're Cress! Cinder was talking about you."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. She said you're gorgeous, and must admit she's right."

"I never said that," Cinder denied.

"But it's true," Thorne smiled his charming smile again.

They got to the engineering classroom and left Thorne at the doorway. When they sat down, Cress slowly turned around to face Cinder.

"Cinder."

"Cress." Cinder frowned. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"Don't tell me you're falling for Carswell Thorne," she said, drawing his name out mockingly. "Ew, please don't."

"I'm not," Cress said as coolly as she could.

"Yes, you are. This is not good."

"Why not?"

"Ugh, because he's a idiot," Cinder moaned.

"Cinder, he's so cute," Cress whispered.

"Yeah, and he knows it, and he's cocky." Cinder shrugged. Cress turned back to the front, biting her lip again.

 **7th Period**

The sub handed out worksheets at the beginning of class and spent the rest of the period at the teacher's desk, reading a book with dark and mysterious man on the cover.

They were supposed to read a four page packet about the schools in France and highlight things that were different from schools in America, but the entire thing was in French, of course, and Cinder wasn't feeling up to it, especially with Kai sitting next to her highlighting and looking so focused and cute and...

Shoot. Cinder looked back at her own paper and read the third sentence for the umpteenth time, but there were so many words she didn't understand. She skipped to the fourth sentence.

Didn't understand any of those words, either. Cinder sighed and looked up at the clock. She watched the second hand inching towards the 4, cheering for it in her head.

Eight minutes.

Kai finished reading the packet, folded it, and looked up at the clock, too. He turned to see Cinder watching the clock.

"Seven minutes and 36 seconds,"

She whispered. "34, 33, 32..."

Kai laughed softly. "Do you need a ride home today?"

She abandoned cheering the clock on to look at him, considering. On one hand, riding with him would not be good because Peony already had a crush on him, and Peony was already mad at Cinder, and Cinder didn't want to tell Peony about the drive home, so it would be easier just to walk home, but on the other hand, she wanted to ride home with him. Not that she had a crush on him, of course. But he was her friend, and not having to walk would be nice.

"Yes. Please."

"How's the packet coming?"

"I made it through four sentences," she sighed.

"Do you need help?"

"No, I'm okay. I'll figure it out at home."

"Okay."

Cinder nodded and tried to get some more highlighting in before the period ended.

Scarlet finished her packet halfway through class, having been raised in France. When the bell rang, she hurried out. She stopped at the band room to get her trumpet so she could practice. On the way to her car, she spotted Wolf.

"Hey, Wolf."

"Oh, hey." He smiled at her.

"Need a ride?"

She could not deny to herself that he had a handsome smile. And nice hair. Very nice hair.

He hesitated. "Sure."

They pulled out of the parking lot. Scarlet was tired and had a pile of homework. Only one solution to that.

"Want to stop at Starbucks?" She asked him.

"Sure."

So Scarlet pulled in at the Starbucks near their school, and they went in. There was a short line because they had gotten out of school so fast. Scarlet knew what she wanted, but Wolf squinted to see the the menu.

"Can you see it?" She asked.

"Not really..." he squinted harder.

"Do you like coffee?"

"Everyone likes coffee. Okay, I know what I want."

They ordered and went to hang around and watch the baristas make their drinks. Scarlet told Wolf he needed glasses.

"I know," he said, "I go to Millicent's marvelous antiques sometimes, because she has reading glasses and even prescription glasses too, but they're all either way not my style or way not my prescription. New glasses are expensive. It's crazy how expensive they are. Last year, my uncle went to the eye doctor, and-"

He licked his lips. "Sorry. I'm rambling."

"It's okay," Scarlet said. She'd never heard him talk that much before. It was kind of cute...


	8. Chapter 8: Wednesday

**Lunch**

Iko and Peony dropped their bags off under the stairs and went to buy their lunch. A they waited in line, Peony saw Cinder in the corner of the cafeteira, in lunch detention.

"There's Cinder," Peony pointed out.

"Cinder's been acting weird lately," Iko whispered, but she followed Peony's gaze to the detention table in the corner of the cafeteria. "Ooh, she's sitting with a cute boy," Iko craned her neck to see across the cafeteria. "Okay, we need an excuse to talk to them."

"Say you want a ride home after your audition,"

"Ooh, good one."

After they got their lunch, Iko dragged Peony over to the detention table and slid in a seat next to Cinder.

"Cinder, is someone driving you home?"

"Probably, why?"

"My audition will be finished at four, can I ride with you?"

Cinder shrugged. "I guess."

"Thanks." Iko turned to Thorne. "Who are you?" She smiled sweetly.

"Carswell Thorne, at your service." He flashed her a smile, and Iko giggled.

"Iko, stop flirting," Cinder groaned.

"Hm. See you after school." Iko took her lunch and went to her spot under the stairs, Peony following close behind. Cress was performing her audition monologue for Winter. Iko sat down and started eating her broccoli noodles. When Cress finished, Iko made her start again so she could hear the whole thing.

"Wow, Cress, you are really good," Iko praised when Cress finished. Cress hunched her shoulders and let her hair fall in front of her face. "Just be confident. Don't get all scared at the end."

"I don't know if I can do this," Cress whimpered.

"What? Yes, you can! You're amazing!" Winter gushed.

"Yeah, but I'll get really nervous, and then I'll panic and mess up, it just-"

"No, no, you'll be fine. What do you have eighth?"

"Physics."

"Okay, during physics, take deep breaths, ten seconds in, hold ten, ten seconds out, hold. That will make you feel more relaxed. Remind yourself that the outcome of this audition has no major impact on your life, and try your best not to panic because you'll do amazing anyway. Okay?" Iko smiled encouragingly at Cress.

"Okay."

After School

Throughout physics, Cress felt her stomach getting more and more knotted. She took ten second breaths and held them for ten seconds, just like Iko taught her.

When the bell rang at 3:00 she went down to the auditorium and hung around, waiting for her audition time.

"Crescent Darnel."

Cress whirled around. Levana from engineering. She leaned against the door.

"What are you doing here?" Levana snapped.

"I'm auditioning," Cress said, reminding herself that she had nothing to be sorry for. She wasn't doing anything to Levana.

Levana scoffed. "You're auditioning? You've been homeschooled your whole life, barely been out of the house. You know nothing about theatre."

"I... how do you know that?"

Levana giggled. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She reached out and fingered the hem of Cress's shirt, a hand-me down from a neighbour. "Don't get in my way, Darnel." Levana whirled around and went into the auditorium.

Cress wrung her hands together. She sat against the wall and read over her monologue again and again. Taking slow breaths, Cress tried to ignore everyone around her.

When her time slot came, Cress went into the auditorium. Ms. Fateen and Mr. Torin, the choir director, were sitting at the far end of the auditorium. Cress squeezed her paper in her hands.

"Hello, Cress," Mr. Torin smiled.

"Hi," Cress said softly.

"Okay, Cress. Whenever you're ready," Ms. Fateen instructed.

Cress squeezed the papers again, then put the paper on the floor. She took a deep breath and started.

The monologue was about a princess in a castle, talking to her mother. Cress quickly got lost in the character. She didn't panic like she thought she would, and when she missed a line near the end, she recovered quickly.

So far, so good. After the monologue, she sang her song. Being home alone had given her plenty of time to sing it, and singing came easy to Cress. She loved singing. When she was finished, Ms. Fateen and Mr. Torin thanked her and dismissed her. When she was out, she leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. She did it. It was over.

Theatre Tech

The only new person to join theatre tech was Kinney, Jacin's friend who Cinder had met on the first day of school. They spent their hour showing him the basics of the light equipment. He was a fast learner and quickly caught on as to what all the buttons did.

Around four, when they were just finishing up, Iko came in and sat down in one of the swivel chairs.

"How'd it go?" Cinder asked her.

"Good, I think. It could have been better, but it also could have been a lot worse."

"Good." Kai had asked Cinder in French if she needed a ride, so after a confirmation from Jacin and Aimery that they didn't need her anymore, they left for the band hall. Kai was sitting outside the band hall, reading a book. He didn't look up when they arrived, so Cinder tapped his foot with hers.

"Oh, hi, Cinder," he smiled brightly. "Ready? Let's go."

Kai led them to his car. Cinder sat shogun, and Iko sat in the backseat. Kai gave Cinder the aux cord again. When they pulled out of the parking lot, Kai asked Iko how her audition went.

"I think it went well," Iko pondered. "I messed up on a line, but I recovered quickly and I think my acting was good."

"Good assessment," Kai approved. "And how's Theatre Tech?"

"We have one singular new member, Liam," Cinder answered.

"Oh, Liam Kinney?" Iko said.

"You sound disgusted," Kai noted. What's wrong with him?"

"He's just a jerk, that's all," Iko shrugged.

"He seems fine," Cinder said, now unsure.

"How's Peony?" Kai asked, changing the subject.

"Peony's sick," Iko muttered.

"Wait, what?" Cinder turned in her seat to look at Iko. "Since when?"

"Since this morning, when she didn't come to school," Iko snapped.

Cinder frowned and turned back to the front, trying to recall the ride to school that morning. All she remembered was sitting shotgun next to Pearl.

"Well, tell her I hope she feels better soon," Kai sympathized.

"Thanks. It's just the flu," Iko mumbled. Cinder turned again to look at her and got a death glare from Iko. She guessed it meant how could you possibly not have noticed she wasn't there??

Cinder turned to stare out the window.

When they got home, Iko rushed to Peony's room. On the way to her own room, Cinder paused outside the door.

"Peony, he asked about you," Iko was saying.

"He did?" Peony gushed, weakly.

"Yeah, he said tell you he hopes you feel better,"

Cinder knew she should go in and talk to Peony, but she was tired and she didn't want to talk to Iko, so she did her homework and went to bed early.


	9. Chapter 9: Thursday

_Crazy short chapter this week it barely even counts as a chapter but anyways here you go!_

 **Before School**

Cinder and Iko rode to school with Pearl, yet again. It was frustrating for her to have to rely on Pearl every morning. She liked being independent and spontaneous. When they got to school, Pearl, Peony and Iko went in, but Cinder hung around the parking lot, wishing she had her car back. Well, there was only one thing to be done about her car. She turned and walked a block to the public bus stop. When the bus came rumbling down the road, Cinder got on a seat at the back of the bus and stared out the window.

At the mechanic's shop in town, Cinder learned that she needed a new tire, which would cost more money than she had ever had. She still didn't want to go to school, so she roamed around town.

Outside the theatre, A NOW HIRING sign caught Cinder's eye. She paused before going in.

It was dark and cozy inside, which Cinder loved. There was only one person, a man in a red collared shirt, who Cinder asked about a job. He seemed glad just to have someone in his theatre at ten o'clock on a Thursday morning.

A short interview later, Cinder had a job. The man, who introduced himself as Steve, gave Cinder her training, showing her how to manage all the different jobs at the theatre.

 **After School**

Cinder wasn't in French, and nobody knew why. Kai wasn't worried, but he was disappointed that he hadn't seen her all day. He had been looking forward to talking to her.

They were translating a story from the textbook. For Scarlet, it was just busy work, since she spoke French sometimes at home, but she enjoyed having a subject she was really good at. It was somewhat therapeutic for her. Even so, when the bell rang, she rushed out, eager to get home.

Wolf was waiting for her by her car. He smiled a tiny half-smile when he saw her. She unlocked her car, smothering a smile back, and they got in.

The rode in silence until Scarlet spoke up, by which time they were almost at his house.

"Are you okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah… Is is crazy that I've only known you a week and I like you more than any of my other friends?"

Scarlet glanced at him. His hands were tightened into fists in his lap, and his leg was bouncing up and down with nervous energy. "Not super crazy."

He was kind of adorable, with his hair falling in his face, head down, looking up at the road through his lashes.

"That was a stop sign."

Scarlet swore and looked back up at the road, scolding herself for losing track of her driving. She pulled up in front of his house, and he looked up at her and thanked her before getting out and climbing the stairs to the front door.

 _Please review!! Thanks a million for reading and see you later!! o o o (hugs) Question: which ship is your favourite in TLC? My main focus here is Kaider (and they are forever my otp!!) but I've touched a little bit on the others. I have super plans for Cresswell..._


	10. Chapter 10: Friday

_Hi guys!! Welcome back! I personally feel really good about this chapter, so I hope you do too!_

 **Before School**

Friday. _Finally_. Cinder trudged up two flights of stairs to her locker. Her heart jumped a little at seeing kai already there, at his own locker.

Missed you yesterday," he said, giving her a gorgeous smile that made her heart jump.

"Aw, you did?" She said playfully. "I got a job so hopefully soon I can fix my car." She opened her locker and exchanged her books.

"Congratulations, where?"

"At the movie theatre in town."

"Oh, fun!"

"Yeah," Cinder shut her locker and they started walking towards Kai's first period. "Oh, what did we do in French yesterday?"

"Just a translation."

"From the textbook?"

"No, online, I can send you the link."

"Thanks. Oh, do you have my number? I'll give it to you."

They stopped outside Kai's first period and he pulled a pen out of his pocket. He didn't have paper, so Cinder offered the palm of her hand for him to write on, "small, so I don't get in trouble."

His hands were darkened from the summer sun, and his touch sent her heart racing. He let go of her hand.

"Oh, yeah, how's Peony doing?" he asked.

"She's still sick." Cinder fingered the hem of her sleeve. It occurred to her how caring it was of Kai to ask about Peony. "Thanks for asking."

"Of course… I'll see you later," he said, and went into the classroom.

"Bye," Cinder whispered, and left for her own class.

 **Lunch**

"Hey, girlie, where were you yesterday?" Thorne greeted Cinder when she sat down with her lunch tray.

"You are way too enthusiastic for a Monday," she groaned.

"It's Friday."

Cinder opened her milk and took a sip. "I'm pretty sure it's Monday."

"It's definitely Friday," Thorne contested.

"Okay, whatever."

"Did you miss me?"

"No."

"Aw, yes you did. You can't hide it," Thorne teased. "Were you sick or skipping?"

Cinder glared, taking a bite of mystery meat to avoid answering him.

Thorne pestered her with questions and all the random thoughts that came into his head, as usual, like "Are you going to keep talking to me once lunch detention is up?" and "Do you believe in aliens, Cinder?" The latter was followed by a one-sided discussion on why the alien invasion is most definitely going to happen within their lifetimes. Cinder did her best to ignore him, but it wasn't easy.

When the bell rang for the end of lunch, she jumped up and threw away her tray, but Throne followed her. Cinder found Cress under the stairs and they headed to Engineering, Thorne hot on their heels.

"What were you doing yesterday, Cinder?" Cress asked. Cress was sweet that way, always checking up on people.

"I got a job at the movie theatre," Cinder told her.

"The movie theatre?" Thorne exclaimed. "That's awesome! Hey, me and your pretty friend can come visit you at your job!" He said, nudging Cress, who laughed nervously and bit her lip, letting her hair fall in her face. "Cress comes to see me some days at my job."

Cress looked up at him, surprised. He had noticed her? He never said anything.

"You do?" Cinder asked Cress.

"He works near where I live," Cress managed to say, still watching Thorne.

"Where's that?"

"The shop on the corner of Glebe Road."

"Huh." Cinder and Cress reached Engineering, and parted ways with Thorne.

 **7th Period**

At the end of French, Kai and Cinder walked together downstairs. "Oh, did you see the cast list?" he asked as they passed the auditorium.

"No, I didn't. When did it go up?"

He led her to the list posted outside the auditorium.

"This morning. Iko is one of the girls who-"

"Oh, my gosh," Cinder interrupted. "Cress is Belle! I heard her sing, I knew she was good, but I didn't realize she was that good!"

"Oh, I know Cress, she's in my creative writing class. Blonde hair, right?"

"Yeah, blonde. Winter's the feather duster, she'll be amazing at that! Where is Levana?"

"There she is!" Kai pointed. "The wardrobe."

"Ooh, the wardrobe, she must have the best voice for that part that part."

"Yeah, the wardrobe is supposed to be able to sing really loud."

"But I know she wanted to be Belle. Ooh, I bet she's pissed about that."

"She wanted to be Belle?"

"Yeah, Aimery said so."

They both took pictures of the cast list for future reference, and went out to Kai's car.

"I'm so excited to start rehearsing Beauty and the Beast," Kai said as he pulled out of the parking lot.

"Me, too," Cinder agreed. "I'm excited to see what Cress has in store for us."

"Yeah, me too." Kai handed Cinder the aux cord.

"Okay," she said, taking it and plugging her phone in, "This is something I don't usually listen to, but three different people have told me to listen to Hamilton, and I finally gave in to the peer pressure."

Kai gasped. "You listened to Hamilton? I love Hamilton!"

"Yep," Cinder started up the album, and they both sang along. She had to admit, he was good at rapping. He knew every single word, something Cinder was still working on.

They were only on My Shot when they got to Cinder's house. They sat in the car, waiting for the song to end.

 _Not throwing away my, not throwing away my shot!_

Cinder unplugged her phone just as the song came to a dramatic end. She turned to him, unable to keep a smile off her face.

"Thanks for driving-"

He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the lips, once, and then once more. When he pulled away, she stared at him, shocked and overjoyed. A nervous smile crept to his lips. He looked sneaky, like he'd broken a rule.

Cinder's mind caught up with her heart all at once. "See you tomorrow," she whispered, and left. She let herself inside the house and hurried to her bedroom, getting to the window just in time to see Kai drive away.

Her mind kept bringing it back to Kai's kiss, short but sweet, as she settled in her bed and put Once Upon A Time into her computer. She thought about his lips, and his smile, and for a moment considered letting herself get lost in him.

Iko would drill her for details if she found out, but it wasn't something she could put into words, the way he made her feel.

There was the note Levana gave her a week ago, the note that had been the cause of her detention. She had never seen them together, but she knew Levana had a history of being uncivilly cruel towards people - she had always acted hostile towards Winter.

Then there was Peony - did Peony even still like Kai? Cinder hadn't even talked to her in a while. She felt bad getting friendly with Kai when last year, before she even knew him, Peony was the one who was always talking about him.

 _So what do you think? Please let me know if you like it!_


	11. Chapter 11: Monday

_So sorry for skipping so many weeks! I've been really busy and I wanted this chapter to be good. I hope you like it._

* * *

 **Lunch**

Cinder had been working at the theatre all weekend.

Her lunch detention time was up, so she could finally eat with her real friends again. She and Jacin went to sit under the stairs after AP physics, and Cinder reclaimed her old spot. Jacin dropped his backpack and sat next to Winter. Cinder went to get her lunch. When she got back, Carswell Thorne was sitting in Cress's spot.

"That's Cress's seat," Cinder informed him.

"Hello, Cinder." Thorne sat down anyway.

"Hey, Thorne," Iko chirped.

Despite the unwelcome guest, Cinder was glad to be sitting with her friends again. Cress got there with her bagged lunch, and sat down next to Thorne with a nervous glance towards her old spot. Iko got out her agenda and started planning.

Kai came over as Cinder got out her French homework and started eating her pizza.

"Can I sit here?" he asked. They all nodded, and Kai sat down in Peony's empty seat. "There's too much drama in my lunch group," he said, unpacking his lunch box.

"Ooh, tell," Iko prompted.

"My whole lunch group is fighting among themselves. Someone removed someone else from the group chat, and now they're all being really passive-aggressive with each other. And my backup table are all idiots."

"Who's in your lunch group?" Iko asked.

"Oh, Aimery, Sybil, Levana-"

"Levana?" Iko asked, not bothering to hide her disgust.

"Yeah, Levana took Channary out of the group chat, so now they're mortal enemies, which makes lunch really uncomfortable… None of us really like Levana," he added, as a disclaimer.

"Then why do you sit with her?" Cinder asked judgmentally.

"We don't sit with her. She sits with us."

"Isn't Channary Levana's sister?" Winter asked skeptically.

"I don't know," Kai sighed, exasperated at all the questions.

"How do you not know if they're sisters?" Thorne pestered. Kai just shrugged.

"Cress, come with me to the bathroom," Iko called.

"Okay," Cress agreed, glad that Iko had picked her out of everyone there for her bathroom excursion. Iko led her to the bathroom by the gym.

"So," Iko said once they got there, repinning her hair. "Carswell Thorne."

Cress claimed the sink next to Iko and ran a hand through her hair, faking nonchalance. "Yeah?"

Iko took a pink lipstick from her pocket. "You think he's cute."

Cress put her hands over her cheeks, willing them not to turn red. She caught Iko's eye in the mirror. Iko smiled knowingly and reapplied her lipstick. "Well, he is," Cress murmured.

"So are you," Iko said. She turned to Cress and held up the lipstick. "Want some?" Cress hesitated, a fear of standing out conflicting with wanting to be bold and spontaneous. "You would look so nice," Iko held the lipstick in front of Cress's face to see the contrast.

"Okay," Cress complied.

* * *

 **After School**

Today was the first day of play rehearsal, and Cress's first day as Belle. She was excited and so, so nervous.

They read through the first act and listened to all of the songs. She met her co-star, the Beast. His name was Ran. He was nice to her, and he had a good voice. He was cute too, as Iko was quick to point out.

Cress was told more than once to speak up.

* * *

Cinder, Jacin, Aimery, and Kinney, sat together on the edge of the stage while they did the read-through of the first act. Occasionally, Ms. Fateen or Mr. Torin would make a note about lights or sound, and tech crew would scribble it into their scripts.

The band rehearsal finished at the same time theatre did, so Cinder went into the band hall to find Kai. She found him putting away his saxophone.

He smiled when he saw her. "Hey, Cinder."

"I feel like I'm not supposed to be in here," she whispered, sitting in the empty seat next to him.

"You're not in band." Cinder turned to see a smiling girl with bright red curly hair, packing up her trumpet.

"I know, I feel really out of place because I'm the only one here not in band." Kai left, saying good-bye to Scarlet. Cinder waved to Scarlet and followed Kai outside to his car.

Cinder watched him drive, his eyes fixed on the road. He glanced over at her. She looked away quickly, stifling a smile.

"That was a stop sign," she muttered as he sped around a corner.

"Oh, right… I missed it." He got to her house and parked outside. Cinder looked up at the building, dreading going inside and facing Adri and her sisters.

She felt him watching her. "We can stay just friends if you want," he whispered.

That was obviously the best option, but Cinder couldn't bring herself to say so.

Cinder bit the inside of her cheek, torn between opening up to him and shutting herself away like she always had.

She made her decision.

She put her hand over his and kissed him. It was an impulse decision - in the moment, she was scared he would drive away and never look at her the same way again. He kissed her back right away, sweet but eager. When Cinder pulled away, he smiled. Her heart raced, and she turned away from him to hide her own smile.

"Cinder?" he asked tentatively.

"It's my sister," She finally told him. "She's had a crush on you since all of last year, and it's so wrong of us to be such good friends and not introduce you to her."

"Oh," he finally said, surprised.

"Yeah…"

They were silent for a while. Cinder felt like she should say something, or go inside, but she didn't have anything to say and she really didn't want to go inside. After a while, though, she told him good bye, see you tomorrow, and trudged up the walkway to the house.

* * *

Cinder shut the door behind her and made her way to her room to find Iko sitting on her bed.

"Hey, Iko. Can you not sit on my bed?" Cinder dropped her backpack and sat down on the floor.

Iko sat next to her sister. "Hey, Cinder, What's going on between you and Kai?"

"Um…" She slowly pulled her French folder out of her bag and started working. "Nothing."

"Are you sure? Because I was sitting between you two at lunch and I think you like him."

"What?" Cinder sputtered. "What about Peony?"

"What about her?" Iko wondered, confused.

"You know she has a huge crush on him!" Cinder hissed.

"Last year, she did."

"I thought she still does."

"You thought she still does because you haven't been talking to her."

"Well… I guess," she agreed reluctantly.

"Come here," Iko said, getting up and going into Peony's room. Cinder quickly followed her, bringing her French with her. Peony was in bed, sitting up on piles of pillows. She had Sunday's newspaper and was reading the color comics to pass time.

"Peony, do you still like Kai?" Iko asked, sitting at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, it's just that Cinder and Kai have become really good friends and she really likes him-"

"Iko!" Cinder protested

"And he really likes her back-"

Cinder groaned. Peony gasped, and promptly burst into a coughing fit.

"So don't you think they should kiss and get married and live happily ever after?"

"Yes!" Peony exclaimed after taking a sip of water. "I mean, he's so cute and so kind, and he likes you and you like him, so…"

"Yeah, but don't you like him too?" Cinder deflected.

"Well, less than I used to. That doesn't even matter. Come on, Cinder, just be a normal person for once."

Cinder smiled a little, but quickly tried to change the subject. "Do you feel better, Peony?"

"Better than yesterday. I think I'll be back in school in a few days," Peony answered, weakly and unconvincing.

"Sure, you'll be okay, it's just the flu," Cinder assured her.

"When you come back and sit with us at lunch again, maybe he'll be there," Iko smiled.

"He was only there one day, it's not like he'll be there forever" Cinder reasoned.

"For you, he might," Peony giggled.

Cinder scoffed. "Okay, that's enough," she got up and made for the door.

"Wait! Stay and watch Say Yes to the Dress with me! Please?" Peony pleaded.

"Fine," Cinder sighed in resignation. She could finish her French in here just as well as in her own room. "But not another word about Kai."

"No promises," Iko giggled.

* * *

 _I might see you guys again in this story, but I'll be putting it on hold for a while because I'm insanely_ _busy and not confident about the chapters I already have. I'll see you soon in a different story._ _Let me know if you have requests, and as always please, please review! Thank you! -redpenguin_


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